Scotty P. of Crank County Daredevils Interview

THE CRANK COUNTY DAREDEVILS ACTUALLY DATE BACK MORE THAN TEN YEARS AGO. THEY RELEASED TWO ALBUMS — ‘LIVIN’ IN THE RED’ IN 2006 AND ‘CRANK COUNTY DAREDEVILS’ IN 2009 BEFORE KIND OF FIZZLING OUT IN 2010. FAST FORWARD SIX YEARS OR SO LATER AND THE SLEAZE MERCHANTS ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN AND READY TO UNLEASH SOME CRANK COUNTY DAREDEVILS MAYHEM ON THE WORLD! SLEAZE ROXX CAUGHT UP WITH CRANK COUNTY DAREDEVILS’ FRONTMAN SCOTTY P. TO FIND OUT WHAT LED TO THE BAND’S HIATUS IN 2010 AS WELL AS THE GROUP REFORMING SIX YEARS LATER.

Sleaze Roxx: Crank County Daredevils are back together again. It seemed that there was a close call about two years ago when you were talking about getting the band together. How come this time, the time is right?

Scotty P.: I think we’re just in a better head space now basically, you know? I mean, when we disbanded, it wasn’t a real “disband.” It was just more of a disgruntled feeling going on I guess at that time. We sort of split up and everyone started doing their own thing. About two years ago, we were ready to start it back up but it just didn’t feel right at the time that we were doing it. We had a guy in there that was a good friend of ours here in Nashville to do the drums but I don’t know. It just didn’t feel right without [drummer] Mike [Irwin] being in there. At the time, he was living in Sweden and we still had [guitarist] Rory [Kelly] doing his solo stuff and I was on the cusp of doing the Damned Angels stuff so the timing just wasn’t right two years ago. It would have been forced thing.

Sleaze Roxx: What happened to the Damned Angels because I know you were talking about releasing a couple of EPs. Did that ever come to light?

Scotty P.: Well, we did the recordings for a lot of them. It’s the same thing that happens with most bands you know? We did some recordings with them. Some hard times hit. The drummer that was playing with us left. We relocated to Atlanta [Georgia, USA] and got a new drummer and also a guitarist — Devin Holiday [who currently plays with Dirtbag Love Affair]. We did some recordings then and then I don’t know, it didn’t pan out. We’ve got some great recordings and stuff but some hard stuff. I think basically being three states away — Devin in Atlanta, Adam Matthews in Knoxville, Tennessee and you have me here in Asheville [North Carolina], it was getting harder and harder fir us to get together for shows and rehearsals and the push that we were trying to push.

Sleaze Roxx: Now, when the band — as you say didn’t split up but — maybe sort of fizzled away, at one point two years ago, you advised Sleaze Roxx that it had been seven years of constant touring with no real success and that’s what really killed the band. Is that still your opinion?

Scotty P.: Yeah. Yeah. A lot of it was our own doings you know. We lived out all those rock n’ roll cliches…

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs]

Scotty P.: Partying hard, going hard to the tank. I mean, that’s what we live for. That’s how we started the band before Rory was [Kelly] in the band and it was the original make-up. I mean, we were just — when it was me and Adam Stevens and Billy Velvet ad Mark Hammer on drums — the original incarnation. The first two albums were put together like that. It was just going just hard all the time. We were staying on tour and that’s when the wheels started falling off. We had people leaving trying to better themselves you know and that’s all good. I think that we just lost sight, you know?

Sleaze Roxx: Fair enough. And what about Mike [Irwin]? Is he back from Sweden now? Is that how you guys sort of reconnected?

Scotty P.: That is how we sort of reconnected. Yeah. The last tours that we did, we did an European tour. We came back off of that and we did the South by Southwest and then, we were scheduled to go on tour with Hell Yeah. Mike had a stroke on the night that we were supposed to start off with Hell Yeah. So he was sort of in the hospital in a coma for a little bit and it really stopped a lot of stuff. That is what really triggered that last little bit of not doing things. We were supposed to go on tour through Europe but with the stroke and just bad luck in general, we just couldn’t go on at that time. It took the wind out if our sails.

Sleaze Roxx: And how did you guys reconnect with Mike?

Scotty P.: We stayed in touch with him while he was over in Sweden. When he moved back from Sweden over to the Charlotte [North Carolina, USA] area, me and him always talked about doing some stuff again. The stuff that we were just getting ready to start up — a little side project — just turned into “Why don’t we just do Crank County stuff?” We bot Rory back in the mix and Billy [Velvet] was always ready to go. It just felt right this time. Without him, it just didn’t feel right.

Sleaze Roxx: So you just released a new single on June 30th. Can you tell us about that?

Scotty P.: Yeah. The new single is just a song that we had wrote there at the end of all that stuff and it’s called “Kicked In The Teeth” and it’s exactly that. It’s about how many times that we have been kicked in the teeth, you know, through this whole music business thing. You know, a lot of it, we put on our own shoulders but a lot of it — being in a DIY [do it yourself] rock n’ roll band here.

Sleaze Roxx: Can we expect a new studio album from you guys in the future?

Scotty P.: Yeah. That’s happening. We’ve been working on some stuff so we are sort of feeling out how people like the single and the shows that we have lined up to do. We’ve got about eight songs or so written so we just got to get around… I think we’re not going to release a full album but we are going to go with the power of digital releasing new singles and EPs and stuff like that. Eventually when we get on to touring and everything, then we’ll have a hard disc. But you know, the way the internet is and everything, we’re more into doing just digital EPs. Give the people what they want.

Sleaze Roxx: So let’s say that you guys disbanded or sort of stopped in 2009, is that correct?

Scotty P.: 2010.

Sleaze Roxx: 2010. It seems that at that time, myspace was still going but it seems to have gone away and now Facebook and Twitter seem to be more important. What do you guys think of that evolvement?

Scotty P.: That would be more of a question for Mike [Irwin]. He’s the digital guru for the band and stuff. It’s hard for me to keep up with all that stuff. It’s probably another reason why we went away, you know? I’m an old school kind of person. About what I just said about digital EPs and stuff, that’s something that I have to wrap my head around as an old rocker right now just because you’re used to putting out a hard copy project or something that people can pick up and put into their hands.

Sleaze Roxx: That makes sense. Back in 2010 before you guys sort of stopped, there was talk about you guys releasing a live album. Did you guys ever record it or what was the status of that one?

Scotty P.: We had different recordings of different shows that we did but we never released it. No, we never did. That’s something that we need to pull back up actually. I forgot completely about that stuff. We do have them! Yeah.

Sleaze Roxx: I’m glad that I reminded you of it! How was your comeback show? I think it was on April 29th. Is that correct?

Scotty P.: Oh yeah! It was a lot of fun! A little shit hole dive the way it should be here in town [Asheville, North Carolina, USA] where we’re from with friends. You know, sweaty, hot, loud… It felt exactly the way it should.

Sleaze Roxx: What else can we expect from Crank County Daredevils in the future?

Scotty P.: Well, right now we are working on tour dates for a two-week tour out. More information will be coming out here soon as soon as we get it. But it should be in September up to the north and back, and we’re working on stuff for Europe for 2017. And of course, we’ve talked about the EPs coming out and stuff. I don’t want to promise too much because I’ve promised so much in the past and I never follow through.

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs] Fair enough. Fair enough. Is there anything else that we should cover today that I have not asked you?

Scotty P.: No man. We’re just glad to be doing music again. I’m glad to be playing music with my friends whether it be in Crank County or the Damned Angels.

Sleaze Roxx: Cool. So last question for you — what’s your top three favorite albums of all-time and why?

Scotty P.: Hmmm. Top three favorite albums of all-time… Well, it would have to be of course the Motörhead ‘Ace Of Spades’ album that is up in there. That’s just because it’s Lemmy. C’mon, it’s one of the best albums ever put out. Another one… I don’t know. My tastes change so much. Ministry — ‘The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste’ — that was pretty brutal for when I was younger and stuff. I love that. I just feel a lot from Al Jourgensen. And the last one… We’ll give out to something newer. I am going to say the Biters’ ‘Electric Blood.’ That one was pretty good.